Iconic Ford logo hits the runway, with legendary design house Versace | McLarty Daniel Ford

Though our sense of high fashion pretty much stops at jeans and three-button golf shirts here at McLarty Daniel Ford, we do love Ford’s iconic Blue Oval logo. Now it appears haute couture clothing design house Versace Fashion has a thing for it as well. In a unique partnership between Ford Motor Company and Versace, the pioneering fashion label had top models sporting the Ford logo while strutting the catwalk during this year’s Milan Fashion Week in Milan, Italy in January.

Part of the label’s “The Versace Man” collection, which debuted at Milan Fashion Week, the Ford logo was prominently featured on a variety of Versace designs in the show, including pants, shirts, skirts, hooded sweatshirts and a one-off leather jacket designed to emulate the feel of an old-school Ford racing jacket.

According to a news release from Versace, The Versace Man collection “reflects on the modern concept of man, an idea of masculinity that pushes the boundaries and breaks the rules of menswear by challenging notions and stereotypes. Only a confident man is able to see beyond the status quo and challenge it. This newly found attitude gives him the freedom and security to ignore conventional norms around beauty, and even more so, around masculinity.”

While the partnership might strike some Ford fans as an odd pairing, executives at Ford say it represents a cutting-edge trend in corporate marketing and fashion, with the logos of iconic brands being seen more for their design than the products they sell.

“We’re seeing a lot of luxury brands pairing with iconic brands that are kind of opposite,” Joy Falotico, chief marketing officer for Ford, told the Detroit Free Press. “There’s a clothing brand called Supreme, and they partnered with McDonald’s, and [fashion designer] Marc Jacobs did something with MTV. Coca-Cola has done a lot of branding. That’s why we weren’t really that shocked.”

The limited edition collection featuring the Ford logo will be sold at Versace stores worldwide. For more information, check out this story on the unique partnership between Ford and Versace from the Detroit Free Press.

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